O ■> 
THE COiMDOR 
Vol. XVI 
W'iiig-feather sheaths were now showing on all the birds about two inches 
long, with feathers broken tlirough one-half inch ; tail sheaths showed about one 
inch long. While there was a slight difference in size among the birds there 
seemed little difference in growth of feathers. The down was getting very heavy 
on the back am! Haul- s, and the underparts had become nearly bare. No signs of 
food of any kind w^ere to be seen around the nest. The mother bird was on guard 
on a limb of the large fir tree. She struck a number of times at me, once a hard 
rap with her claws on my shoulder. 
July 19 I reached the nesting site at 10 a. m. For the first time since the 
young had hatched calls of the parent birds w'ere not to be heard. I thought per- 
haps botli were away hunting, but on my start up the tree the mother bird put 
in an appearance with her usual ferocity, though the male bird did not appear. 
I had strapped the basket on my back and after a few minutes at the nest I 
placed four of the young in the basket and descended to ground. I proceeded to 
the previous base of operations and started to work with the camera. The birds 
were very restless, owing doubtless to the extreme heat and to the strange sur- 
roundings. Two of the young hawks hopped from the platform of twigs and 
jumped to the ground, a distance of two feet. The male bird returned while 1 
was making negatives of the young, and both jiarent birds kept up a constant 
“cha, cha, cha”. The female uttered a very plaintive cry wdien I took the young 
from the nest and several times while I was handling the young to photograph. 
The wing feathers of the young projected an inch from the sheaths. Feather de- 
velopment was almost the same on all five young. Considerable down adhered to 
the nest, but there W’ere no signs of food. 
July 23 I visited the nest late in the afternoon, finding the parent birds away 
some distance. The female returned while I was ascending to the nest. Just as 
T peered over the edge one of the young birds made a quick turn and made an at- 
tempt to fly away, but only sailed a few feet, struck a limb, turned a somersault, 
and fell to the ground right side up. I descended at once and returned ‘‘smarty” 
to the nest. The other young ones retreated to the outer edge of the nest and 
showed considerable fear. One bird nearly toppled over the edge, but the keen- 
eyed mother darted past and struck the young bird with her wing driving it back 
to the center of the nest. Great quantities of down hung to the nest twigs. No 
signs of food. 
July 26 I reached the nesting ground at 9:30 a. m., hardly expecting to find 
any young in the nest. The old birds were away, but the female promptly arrived 
when I started to climb the tree. When I was about half-way up, the mother 
gave what seemed to be a warning cry, and hawks were flying in all directions. 
They must have all left at once. When I reached the nest it was entirely desert- 
ed. The nest cavity was about gone, the surface being nearly level and well cov- 
ered with down, fl'he breast and leg of a small bird lay on the nest. 
I spied two of the young hawks on a limb about twenty feet from the ground 
on a nearby tree, and that being all I could locate I descended the nest tree and 
started np the tree harboring the young. This tree was a hard one to climb ; when 
I reached the limb I thought I would be able to catch the birds, but they bot'r 
sailed away and one missed footing on the next tree and fell to ground. I soon 
secured this one and placed it in the closed basket. I then started up the tree for 
the other bird, and gave the limb a hard shake. The second one thereupon came 
to the ground, but came near escaping by getting into a dense thicket. I searched 
a number of the trees from below, and shook all the small ones near the nest, but 
detected no more hawks. I ascended the nest tree again and finally located another 
